Inferior
by Ambere
Summary: Jay x Cinder and Jay x Poppy from Cinderheart's POV. One-shot.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors. The characters and books belong to Erin Hunter, the author._

Author's Note: I've been meaning to write a Warriors fic for a while, and this features Jay x Poppy and Jay x Cinder, from Cinderheart's point of view. One-shot. Please review =)

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Blind. The word makes me shudder. Jayfeather was blind. Blind to me, who loves him, cares for him, and wishes for him. He will never acknowledge me, and as I think that something cries in my heart. Poppyfrost was the one he saw. Poppyfrost, my sister, with a beautiful name, her gorgeous tortoiseshell coat, clear blue eyes and intelligent mind.

I am inferior to her.

He is a medicine cat. But I love him. His starry eyes cannot see me. But I love him. I watch as he approaches Poppyfrost by the medicine cat den. He sets down some herbs for her injured paw.

Poppyfrost brushes her nose with him, and my eyes falter away. I am convinced he will never see anyone but my sister. My tail droops silently to the ground as I walk away. The sun is setting. Cats are collecting fresh-kill from the pile and taking it away with them.

I wash my gray paws and ears, then turn back around. Jayfeather is sitting at the entrance of the medicine cat's den, working on a mouse. Should I go join him? It was nice to eat with someone, after all.

I choose a sparrow from the pile, and just about to go over, I catch Poppyfrost bounding up to him. I can see them comfortably settle down and finish off the mouse together. As they finished it off, the sparrow drops from my mouth and my heart cracked into two. If I were to go over, I will be invisible to them, or maybe just a fellow warrior.

It isn't enough.

I am inferior.

As much as I love my sister, I still felt Jayfeather didn't deserve Poppyfrost. I wish there was some way Jayfeather could connect with me, to get to know me for who I really am. Poppyfrost would never love him like I loved him.

But I am inferior to her, the beautiful Poppyfrost who was always so confident, so intelligent…so much more superior than me. She was quick, clever, nimble. If that was what Jayfeather wanted, I would be that. I could be that. I am that.

I go over to the warriors den and to my nest. I sit there, thinking. What attracted him to me so much was…the fire and determination he had that shined through. The will to show everyone his eyesight did not deteriorate his ability to survive as well as normal cats.

I lay down, and think about the time I had broken my leg, and I was in the medicine cats den watching him sort through herbs with skill. I think about the time he taught me to swim, and the times he stared at me as if thinking about something I did not know. I was just Cinderheart.

Just Cinderheart.

I fall into a dream, where I am outside the den, washing in the moonlight. I see Jayfeather coming back from collecting herbs. He does not see me though, as he deposits the herbs and comes back out to eat a late meal.

I wash behind my ears, keeping one eye open as he eats the finch from the pile.

I caught that finch.

Then his head turns and stares directly into my heart. His deep blue eyes seem to beckon me over. I obey. Jayfeather closes his eyes and rests his head on his paws, purring in contentment.

I curl up with him, and I fall asleep again, this time in my fantasies.

When I wake up in the real world, I peek out the den. It was the crack of dawn. I see Jayfeather coming back to camp with herbs in his mouth and the dream comes back to me.

But my dream shatters when Poppyfrost races out of the den and straight to him. I shake my head and head out to hunt for a mouse or two to clear my thoughts.

As I head out, I feel as if eyes are on me, watching.

I am imagining it. My heart and fantasies are nothing more than a squirrel that will soon be caught and eaten. They have been broken over and over again. And I had let that happen; I, Cinderheart, whose heart's desire will never be fulfilled.

My fantasy will only ever remain in the realms of dreaming, because I am inferior.


End file.
